Jeong Sang-jin

Name

Jeong Sang-jin

STATUS / Legal outcome

Jeong Sang-jin was sentenced to death on May 12, 2009.

Background

The Nonhyeon-dong massacre was a mass murder that occurred in the Gangnam-gu ward of Seoul, South Korea on October 20, 2008, when 30-year-old Jeong Sang-jin set fire in a goshiwon and slashed several women with a sashimi knife.

Jeong Sang-jin was originally from Hapcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, and moved to Seoul in 2002. He worked part time jobs as a food delivery man or parking valet, and as of April 2008 he was unemployed and had to face severe financial difficulties. He could not pay his rent and mobile phone fees for months prior to the rampage.

During interrogations Jeong said he was persecuted since his childhood days and attempted suicide twice during his time at middle school and occasionally suffered from severe headaches since then. Unconfirmed reports stated he was convicted eight times, once for skipping an obligatory training for military reservists, for which he was fined of 1.5 million won.

After his arrest he stated that he didn't want to live anymore, as everyone looked down on him. It was said that he might have wanted to express his anger towards the rich and high authorities, but as they were difficult targets he lashed out against those who were at hand.

Further blame was also laid on the film A Bittersweet Life by Kim Ji-woon, which Jeong was said to like.

The offence

A financially strapped South Korean man went on an arson and stabbing rampage in Seoul on Monday, leaving six people dead and seven others wounded, police said.

At about 8:15 a.m., according to police, Jeong, who lived on the third floor of a four-story gosiwon, a low-cost lodging facility, poured gasoline on his bed and set it ablaze. Dressed all in black, wearing a headlamp and hiding his face with a balaclava and goggles, he emerged from his smoke filled room and, armed with a sashimi knife as well as two fruit-knifes strapped to his legs and a tear gas gun in a belt holster, began slashing and stabbing the residents of the building who were fleeing the fire.

Five people died of the wounds Jeong had inflicted on them with his knife. One woman died when she jumped out of a window in the fourth floor in an attempt to escape. Another seven were injured, four seriously, either by Jeong or the fire.

The fire ravaged in the building for about 30 minutes, before around 100 firefighters finally succeeded to tame the flames.

Jeong was initially thought to be another victim; at 9:20 a.m. he was rescued by a fireman from a storage room in the fourth floor, where he was hiding.

Police seized two more knives and a tear gas gun from Jeong.

Jeong was told police about a combination of psychological distress, financial troubles and a gangster movie as motivations, and police said he was motivated by a combination of psychological distress, financial troubles and a gangster movie.

Investigation and arrest

When police noticed his peculiar behavior, Jeong was interrogated at the scene and he confessed to the crime. He was immediately arrested and brought to Gangnam Police Station, where he was charged with homicide and arson.

Jeong was facing a police investigation for not taking part in annual training for military reservists.

Kim Kap-shik, chief detective at Seoul's Gangnam Police Station, told reporters: "everybody looks down on me."

Seoul Central District Court spokesman Kwon Tae-hyung said Jeong Sang-jin was handed the sentence because his crime was premeditated and "cruel".

Trial

A South Korean court sentenced Jeong Sang-jin to death on May 12, 2009.

Sentencing

Seoul Central District Court spokesman Kwon Tae-hyung said Jeong Sang-jin was handed the sentence today because his crime was premeditated and "cruel".

Outcome

A total of six people died in the incident and seven more were injured.

Three of the dead and three of the injured were Chinese citizens. One of the dead and four of the injured victims were ethnic Korean Chinese citizens working in South Korea, according to media reports.

The lodging facility had 85 tiny rooms on the third and fourth floors of a commercial building. The rooms were rented on a monthly basis and were generally used by low-income people living alone. Sixty-nine people were living in the facility, Yonhap said.

Timeline

• October 20, 2008 — Jeong Sang-jin set fire to a goshiwon room and stabbed residents while they fled the fire in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
• 8:15 a.m. — Jeong poured gasoline on his bed and set it ablaze.
• 9:20 a.m. — Firefighters rescued Jeong from a storage room on the fourth floor.
• May 12, 2009 — Jeong Sang-jin was sentenced to death.

Other details

Neighboring Japan was struck by a series of random stabbings this year, including the Akihabara massacre in June when a man slammed a truck into a crowd of people, jumped out and began stabbing passers-by at random.

The incident sparked memories of the Daegu subway fire and the arson of the Namdaemun the same year, as well as the Akihabara massacre that happened just a few months earlier.

In 2003, a 56-year-old man with a record of mental illness ignited a carton filled with gasoline on a subway train in Daegu, and the blaze left 198 people dead and 147 injured. In February 2009, a 69-year-old man, upset over a land dispute, started a fire that destroyed a 14th-century gate in Seoul considered one of South Korea's most treasured landmarks.

South Korea had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment and had not executed anyone since December 1997.